Mountain West divides in football

Conference title game set for Dec. 7

Six days after retaining San Diego State as a member of the Mountain West and proposing a two-division football league with a championship game, the conference made it a reality.

Tuesday, the league announced the creation of the Mountain and West divisions for football with six teams placed geographically.

Colorado State will be in the Mountain, along with Air Force, Boise State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming. The West is comprised of Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State and UNLV.

The championship game will be played Dec. 7 at the stadium of the team ranked highest in the BCS standings.

"We came to a lot of logical, common-sense conclusions when it came to organizing the conference as far as divisions are concerned, and I think it preserves the natural rivalries that have existed for Colorado State as well as the schools in the Mountain and Western divisions," Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham said, a day after the conference's athletic directors hashed out details. "It's not rocket science. It makes a lot of sense."

That fact the Rams keep longstanding rivals Air Force and Wyoming on the schedule on a yearly basis was important, CSU football coach Jim McElwain said. And he also likes the Rams will have to battle Boise State for the chance to reach the title game.

"I think it's great.

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Playing to win that side and then playing in the championship game for your conference, I just think it's great for college football," McElwain said. "I think it's great for our fans and all the people involved in the Mountain West.

"I was excited to see it broken up where your natural rivals stay in year in, year out. That's real positive as well."

Each team will play the five teams in their division annually, with the addition of three crossover games. Graham said those will flip on a yearly basis, with home games rotated. For example, if CSU plays the three California schools one year, they will play the other three schools the next.

Simple, but to a degree. The schedule for football won't come out until April until all the components and variables have been fed into a computer and it comes out with a suitable arrangement for every one.

Colorado State has one in specific -- it set up its schedule for next year with the understanding it was traveling to Hawaii, allowing the Rams to add an extra game under NCAA rules. Graham said the conference took that into account and will almost certainly schedule a road game to Hawaii to keep Colorado State from having to back out of a non-conference date with Colorado, Cal Poly, UTEP, Tulsa or Alabama.

"I think it's a very high probability that will be the outcome," Graham said.

Basketball is not so simple, and neither will be the Olympic sports. Basketball is only an 11-team league, and Graham said an 18-game schedule was agreed upon. That leaves teams playing home-and-road games with eight schools, then picking up solo games with two of the remaining three teams. Those pairings will also be rotated through the years.

Not every school in the MW has the same athletic programs, creating more chaos in the process, but Graham is confident the powers that be will again come up with the right solutions.

"There are some unique dynamics around those programs," Graham said. "We're visiting with those coaches, getting their feedback, and then the athletic directors will make a decision on how those schedules will be affected.

"Our conference staff is doing a terrific job of tackling all of the really big, important, logistical questions that come out of retaining Boise State and San Diego State after we'd assumed they weren't going to be here. Having them come back into the conference, you can't imagine the level of complexities that creates around conference scheduling. The conference staff is doing a terrific job of tackling these questions."

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